


A Royal Affair

by crossoverAUman



Series: A Royal Bloodline [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bondage and Discipline, Chastity Device, F/F, F/M, Non-Consensual Spanking, Omega Verse, Spanking, nothing better than hot dragons in bondage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2019-12-18 17:16:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18254306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossoverAUman/pseuds/crossoverAUman
Summary: One's a Royal Prince, touring the country. The other is a homeless girl, sitting in a small town jail and just trying to get free. When their worlds collide, sweeping the pair into a whirlwind of romance, sex, and political intrigue, will either of them be able to get what they want? Will Hayden get to marry Talia? Will Talia find out what happened to her parents? Will they survive a meeting with the serial killer known only as "The Tanner"? Will Talia ever be let out of her chastity belt? Find out!





	1. Chapter 1

While the mission he was attending to was certainly an important and traditional one, Hayden Haddock, Prince of The Berk Empire, was bored out of his skull. He had a nearly infinite list of important things that needed doing, after his father's stroke, but he was still the prince. He was not Emperor until he had a mate, as Gobber had helpfully reminded him before he began his yearly tour.

Still, with a good internet connection, and help from his friends, he was able to keep everything running smoothly, even as he toured the empire by train. This was, if nothing else, a good trial-run for which of them he would be naming as his Belch, once he ascended the throne. He'd been planning to ask Fishlegs, until his friend had been mated and allowed his career to fall to the backburner. Not that Hayden could blame him. If he had a daughter as cute as Fishstub, he would have cared more about her than his job too.

Still, it had left him in a bit of a lurch for the rather important position of Top Advisor. Astrid had a good head for the job, but was too… martially minded. Everything was a potential threat or fight. Had they been alive and ruling during the time of his grandfather, Hayden The Expansionist, that would have been fine. But they weren't. 

Eret was nearly the opposite issue. While his calm demeanor made him perfect as a personal assistant and bodyguard, his go-with-the-flow attitude did him no favors in the political arena. 

He was beginning to see why his father had all but abdicated, after his stroke. This shit could drive a healthy man to the grave, let alone someone who'd had two strokes and an aneurysm. Better that he let his son rule from the sidelines until he found a mate. 

The tour Hayden was currently stuck taking _was_ important, though. He knew that, from a logical standpoint. Every jail, prison, county lock up and drunk tank in the empire over a two month period. Fortunately, they were traveling by train, and they could cover 100 miles in about a minute, if they got going. It gave them plenty of time to work, and Hayden could take a five minute nap and be ready for the next tour. 

The tradition had been started by his great-great grandmother, Helga the Reformer, and it was a fine one. If the lowest of the low were happy, healthy, and well treated, then surely they were doing something right. 

There were only two stops left, and Hayden was determined to stretch his legs a bit before they attended to them. His stump was beginning to swell from all the sitting he'd done over the last month and a half. 

“Last stop, right, Eret?”

Eret checked his touchpad with a small frown of concentration, then nodded.

“Yep. Mjolnir Falls. 500 residents, one jail, and a Reform School just a mile from town. The sheriff has been the mayor as well for fifteen years, only real source of local income is the post office and a small curio museum. They have a music festival every year and that attracts about 7,000 people, and it boosts the local economy just enough to keep the town afloat and the roads paved.” The bodyguard said. “Apparently the local cafe and eatery serves good biscuits and gravy, and the local no-tell has, and I quote the review, ‘a weirdly good selection of breakfast items for their continental breakfast bar.’, end quote.”

“Huh. I think I remember this from last year. Let's check out the curio place before we hit the reform school, then you can get us lunch and I'll hit the jail.” Hayden mused, looking over the town. It was _flat_ , like something had drained the town's energy. He remembered this place better than he wanted to let on. He'd scented the most beautiful Omega on the wind, better than any he'd ever met, but he hadn't been able to find them. He'd deny obsessing over the town, learning every piece of history he could, if you questioned him. But he had. 

Not, again, that he would admit that at all to anyone at any point. 

Eret hummed thoughtfully. “Only if I get to hand you off directly to the sheriff. I know you too well, Hiccup.” He teased, using the Prince's childhood nickname. The scrawny royal socked his shoulder playfully, the two sharing a grin. 

“Fine, fine, take away all our royal fun.”

The servants and crew unloaded, and Hayden turned to the mixed bag of humans, hybrids, and Oldbloods. 

“Alright, everyone, the next 6 hours are yours! Do what you want but for Hela's sake, no drinking, no prostitutes, and no gambling!” He told them. 

“Might as well stay on the train and do the same thing then, aye!” One of the assorted royal guards joked, and Hayden laughed. 

“We'll be back in the Capitol in two weeks! I promise, make it that long and I'll buy you an hour with the best prostitutes myself!” the Prince called back. “Goes for all of you! $200 bonus if you can all keep chill amongst the locals!”

That got a cheer, because who didn't like extra money?, and Hayden and Eret set off.

Hayden's particular interest in the hole in the wall museum was very specific. That had been where he'd caught that whiff of his mysterious omega. It was his best lead. His _only_ lead. 

Again, though, boy oh boy, not that he would be telling anybody that. There was no admitting that he'd basically stalked the entire town from a distance, late at night, for a year. 

The museum was what you would really expect. It was a tourist trap, under staffed and full of knickknacks of the most kitschy variety. The only truly interesting thing it possessed was the taxidermied body of a two headed cow. 

There was a boy of about fifteen at the front counter, who sold tickets from an ancient cash register that made the classic _cha-CHING_ as it opened. He was distracted, however, arguing on the phone. 

“No, no, you listen to _me_! I am sixteen, I am a minor! I cannot work, by law, more than five hours without a break! I have been here for ten and a half! Talia didn't bother showing up, Alecia! I don't care if it's ‘not your job’, you're the fucking manager! I need to go home! I need to _eat_!”

He pulled his phone away, revealing the smattering of scales on his cheeks, and when he set his phone down, it was easy to tell his hands were sharp talons. He was a Nadder hybrid, beta by the scent. His face was wide, and he bore a strange similarity, though Hayden couldn't place it for the life of him. His wings extended back from his wrists, and he flashed them an apologetic smile. 

“Ok, I'm so sorry about that! My name is Lugnut, welcome to The Mjolnr Falls Mysterious Mystical Magic Museum! We have several ticket packages, including the basic self guided tour, and the Guided tour, where you can ask us questions about a particular item!” it was a complete emotional 180.

Eret laughed, giving him a smile. “You ever get out of retail, you'll make a fine actor, lad. Give us the self guided, and when we're done, go home. You deserve the break.”  
He passed the boy the money, and a card. 

“They give you any issue, you just call that number and we'll take care of it.” He assured the boy.

Hayden began to walk around. That mysterious omega's scent was everywhere, and he called over, unable to stop himself. 

“This Talia, is she an omega?”

“Yes,” Lugnut answered. “And I genuinely like her but she is _constantly_ getting arrested, and there's only four of us that work here. Without two of us, we can't do the guided tour.”

Hayden hummed. So. His mysterious omega had a name. 

“Talia,” he said quietly, rolling the name about on his tongue. Interesting. 

“What for?”

“I, um… Sir this is a family institution and I,” he squeaked, and Eret smiled at him. 

“Don't worry, it's not important. My friend's just being weird.”

As he joined Hayden again, at the two headed cow, he got up closer to ask his question.

“You _are_ acting weird though. What's going on?”

Hayden hummed again as they moved on. 

“I'm not sure. You smell that omega?”

Eret took a deep breath, then coughed. 

“She smells like… cloves, garlic, and… well… don't get weirded out but she smells like you.”

Hayden nodded. 

“Exactly. You know how rare that is? Shit, we've only ever seen it ten or fifteen times in the last twenty years. My parents, Heather and Astrid and that pour little omega they rescued,” he frowned, trying to get more of the scent. 

“I want her, Eret, and I want her badly,” he finally admitted. “I've been thinking about her since we came here last year and I caught her scent. Now I have a name, if not a face.”

“That is pretty important. Gotta put a face to her so you know what to jerk it to.” Eret teased, making Hayden sock his shoulder again. “But seriously, you've been thinking about this ‘meg for a full year? That's a little grimmel, Hayden.”

Hayden pulled a face. 

“I'm being that creepy?” he asked, suddenly worried.

“Full on Bogslinger Bill. I'm worried you're gonna keep her locked up a few days, maybe make a dragon suit out of her skin.”

“Oh fuck off!” Hayden laughed, playfully shoving him. 

As they concluded the tour, the manager of the place had finally bothered to show up, and Eret fixed her with a glare, making her stop in the middle of chewing out Lugnut.

“Shite business practices you've got, yelling at a kid like that in front of your customers. Might wanna reconsider that, before you lose your one employee that's not currently missing.” He snarled, making her flinch. That was the one way to get Eret angry, to yell at someone for something they couldn't control. It was why they tried to keep him from fast food as much as they could.

Outside the jail, they were greeted by the town sheriff, who looked rather frazzled. He was an old man, human in form, though he might have had some dragon in his line at some point a few generations back, based off his eyes. He had a firm handshake, and that automatically endeared him to Eret.

The jail was starting to fall apart, but it was obvious the sheriff was doing his best to take care of it. 

“Little rougher than last year, Sheriff Hoskins,” Hayden commented. “People finally stop speeding in city limits?”

The sheriff laughed. “No, sir, I wish. No, we actually had a lightning strike burn down a barn, and the insurance wouldn't cover it. Williams is a good man, moving out here to raise his sister's kids, so we donated pretty much all we had.”

Hayden smiled. People helping people was something he always liked to see. 

“Then we had an Oldblood Rumblehorn go through, and, well…” he gestured to the jail, and a piece of the ceiling conveniently fell off.

“And the nearest Drake Center is an hour away.” Hayden surmised. 

“Hour and fifteen,” the sheriff said, leading Hayden into the building while Eret left to get them lunch. 

“Hm. Unacceptable. I'll see about getting a center built closer. Have your people contact mine about land and we'll get something set up.”

The old man's shoulders sagged in relief, only to tense up again as the terrifying call of an Oldblood Monstrous Nightmare echoed through the town. 

“Every fucking time I arrest that girl!” He snapped, turning on his heel and leading Hayden further into the building. “Talia you call that damn thing off!” He called. 

There was a very defensive “I didn't even call it _on_ , Sheriff!” From one of the cells, and the building shook as the nightmare landed on the roof. 

Hayden wasn't prince for nothing, though, and he pulled a small metal cylinder from his belt. He flicked the end and it sprang out, twisting and unfolding into a sword. The prince grinned, swinging it against the floor and making it ignite with the sparks.

“Sheriff, I suggest you stay inside.”

This was his favourite job, after all. Wouldn't want anyone to spoil his fun.

The titanwing glared down at him, roaring a challenge, but Hayden stayed silent, merely waving his sword a bit to test it. Then he gave a high pitched whistle, and the beast slunk down to his level, circling him. 

“Ittsa bigga fullstop, old one.” Hayden teased it, whirling away from a jet of flame, smacking it across the face with the flat of his sword before swinging up between its horns. It screamed in anger and flamed up, but Hayden held on anyways, even as his clothing began to burn away. This was the hardest part, really. 

Hayden raised his sword up and smacked it down with a heavy thud right between the creature's eyes, making it sway side-to-side. Thunder rumbled as it hit, and storm clouds began to gather above the town.

The titan groaned, sinking to its stomach. It hadn't been hit that hard in fifty winters, by its own reckoning. It swayed back and forth, its vision swimming, and Hiccup swung down, landing on the ground as it collapsed. He shut his sword off, collapsing it back down as he wiped a bit of burning slime off his shoulder, even as Eret came rushing over, food abandoned in the street, a tranquilizer gun primed and ready.

“Fucking Hel's decaying tits, Hayden! I leave you for ten minutes!” He snapped, as if there weren't literally sniper teams on standby to protect the Prince 24/7. 

“I'm fine, look, my pants didn't even light on fire!” The royal protested, though his assistant still checked him over. “I'm kicking myself for not wearing my scaleshirt, but nothing to do with it now.”

The sheriff came out of the building, dragging along a Dawnbreaker hybrid. There! That was her! The scent was enough to drive Hayden mad, and she was absolutely gorgeous, with a full set of nubs. She obviously took more after the night fury line than most other Dawnbreakers, but that only made sense. Dawnbreaker Furies had been, for nearly two hundred years, trying to selectively breed themselves back into their original ancestral species of Night Fury and Day Fury, with some success, including among the Oldbloods. 

“I have _had it_ , young lady! You are a consistent law breaker, but I can't arrest you, because every time I do, my building gets attacked! This county has one jail, one courthouse, one sheriff's office and dispatch! One! And they're all the same building! This county cannot afford your nonsense anymore!”

“Is not me, make attack!” The hybrid protested, and the sheriff pulled her over to Hayden and Eret, passing her off to the bodyguard. She was locked in the typical hybrid restraints, a collar with a pole that connected to cuffs on her wrists, and another that restrained her tail. It was more effective than regular handcuffs, given most traditional handcuffs wouldn't fit on any but the smallest of hybrids. 

“Sir Eretson, I am remanding this prisoner to the highest authority in the land. As law states, and honor demands, I have passed her over to the military official of highest rank, and request that she, and her file, go to the Capitol for judgement.”

Eret accepted the squirming hybrid, who tried to pull free, only to go limp when Hayden raised an eyebrow at her behavior.

“Well, sheriff,” Hayden mused, leafing through the novel sized file. “The Capitol is technically right here. Let's save you a month or two of waiting, shall we? If you don't mind me commandeering your office for a bit, I can handle this here and now.”

The sheriff hooked his thumbs in his belt loops, rocking on his heels as he thought. 

“Well, I'm plenty fond of keeping the justice system moving apace. I'll lead you in and we're liable to still be here tonight, burning the midnight oil, but we'll get it done.”

“Can just be youth in Asia and get over with?” the restrained omega begged, and Hayden reached out with one hand, gently squeezing the back of her neck as he led her back inside. He let her get a good whiff of his scent, and she stiffened in confusion before going limp as she was set in a chair in the local court room. 

Well. 

Time to see what his mate-to-be had been up to all these years.


	2. Chapter 2

The Sheriff led them to his office, Talia grumbling the whole way. It was in the basement of the building, which was arguably the only spot left that was safe enough to _put_ an office space. The rest had been smashed up by angry Oldbloods, hybrids, and drunk drivers. The jail was up top, a collection of ten cells and a lunch room, with a dusty, barely used doctor's examination room in it, a relic of the time when the nearest hospital had been a two hour drive away. The courtroom and mayor's office were on the floor below that, though the mayor's office was unused for that purpose, as the sheriff _was_ the mayor. 

In the Sheriff's office, Hayden sat Talia down on the bench most offices kept for any hybrids that should enter them, flopping himself into a chair across from her. He carefully telegraphed his motives and movements, hoping to keep her at ease. He was fully alpha, in that moment, legs crossed at the ankles, knees opened wide, throat confidently exposed, and the trick seemed to be working, as she slowly began to relax. 

Flipping through the file, Hayden kept an eye on the omega as she squirmed unhappily in her restraints. Talk about thick, this wasn't a file, it wasn't even a book! It was a Stephen King novel with the script of the adaptation attached, and a new forward by the author. 

As Hayden read, he felt himself growing more and more concerned over the omega in front of him. He had known, instinctively, that he lived a pretty fucking good life, but… he'd naively believed that most other people lived similarly good lives. The systems in place were never supposed to fail, and it seemed that here, at least, they had failed tremendously. 

She'd run away from every foster home she'd been placed in from the age of four to thirteen, at which point she'd dropped off the map for a year, and the arrests had started from there. Shoplifting, robbery, lewd behavior, public indecency, public drunkenness, and that was only in the year between fourteen and fifteen. Now at seventeen, it seemed she'd hit a new low and been arrested for underage prostitution. Someone would be paying for that. The law was very clear about what to do to people who had sexual contact with a minor. 

“Did you happen to catch the John, on this prostitution charge? I'd like to get his statement before I cut his head off.”

“Yeah that last one I'm willing to scrap,” the sheriff admitted. “She barely speaks English anymore, and I doubt she even realized what was going on.”

“All the more reason to decapitate him. Let me know if you ever find him…” the prince muttered angrily. 

Then, Hayden looked at the omega, concerned. 

“Why is she mute, do you know? Did she get injured? Is it Adhism?”

“Honestly, we're not sure. Never was able to get her tested, but I can tell you _when_ she gave up on conversations.” The sheriff told him sadly. “Page thirty-two has more details, but she was with a foster family when she was six, and she'd settled in with them pretty good when the place burned down. Electrical fault, nothing she could have stopped, but her foster family didn't make it. There was a big hullabaloo about it and after that she really started to slip through the cracks no matter what we did.”

As the sheriff told the story, Hayden kept an eye on the hybrid, who began to tremble as the story was told. The prince reached out, without thinking, and placed his palm over her nose, his pheromones and scent markers filling her nostrils. It worked a charm, though, and she went limp in her restraints, leaning into the brief touch. 

“I think, with her mental faculties in question, that we'd be best served taking her to the Capitol for testing.”

“Not st-stupid…” the hybrid stammered defensively, angrily pulling away from Hayden's touch with a snarl. “Don't need t-t-tests!”

“Then you _want_ to go to prison?” Hayden asked her, raising an eyebrow. 

“Because I can see how you think this is going to go. You'll get sent to reform school, you'll break out, rinse and repeat the whole cycle. Except that's not the case anymore, little one.” Hayden said, leaning in with a cold look. “You're being judged by a higher authority. If I sentence you to reform school, and you don't go, then you go straight to a Drake Center. They'll keep you there, like it or not, until your sentence is served. And I'm not like Sheriff Hoskins. He's one man with a thousand duties. He can't dedicate time to chasing you down.”

The omega whined, and Hayden could tell he was getting into her head.

“But me? I might have a thousand duties, but I have plenty enough people to hand smaller jobs off to. I can send in a couple of Guardians from a Center, and they will run you down, into the ground, and drag you to a Center by your hair; and there you'll stay. You won't be able to do a thing about it, like it or not. You have two choices today, little one. You can stop running and start making it right, or you can keep fighting the system and find yourself living in an aviary for the next thirty or forty years. Those are your options. You have a choice to make. Make the wrong one, and you won't get the chance to make a choice again for a very long time.”

The hybrid whimpered, refusing to meet his eyes, and Hayden watched her closely. 

“Not stupid. Don't need test.” She grumbled finally, settling on an issue to be angry about, and Hayden smiled softly at her. Boy oh boy, the gods had picked a real project for him. 

“Well, then why don't you take the tests and prove you're not? And if you are, then we can help you get smarter, you stubborn thing.” He cajoled softly, and she whined. 

“Can get by on own. Don't need help and don't need you, Stinky!” She snapped, fear to turning into anger. 

Stinky. So she could tell they were matched but didn't know what that meant, didn't know the implications of it. Well, Hayden could work with that. 

“Oh? And what will you do, your next Heat, if you're not somewhere safe? Lay out in the woods and fuck a tree? No. You don't strike me as the type.”

He set her file down, watching her wince. She'd definitely been abused at some point, and the fact filled Hayden with rage. He forced it down though. He had a job to do. Being angry would feel good, but it wouldn't help Talia any. 

“Sheriff, where's she been living?” He asked, changing the subject suddenly. 

“We're not entirely sure, but there's a few possible spots. You want me to round up a few deputies and send them out?”

“If you could. I'll have a few of my people go with and gather her belongings.”

Then he turned to Talia once more and, with a firm, but gentle, grasp, he held her chin to force her to look at him. 

“Do you know what it means, that we smell like each other? It means that you're my responsibility, and you're my concern. It means that when you stumble, I right you, and if you fall, I pick you up. And right now, Talia, that means you're going to come with me to the Capitol and take the tests, so I can know how to help you. It means that I'm in your corner no matter what, and I will always be there for you.”

“ _Don't need you_!” The dragon snapped, twisting away from him and lashing out, kicking a chair across the room. The sheriff stood, ready to hold her down, but Hayden held up a hand, stopping him. 

“ _If you soooo special, where you was when_ did _need you_?” She hissed, kicking another chair, shattering it against the wall. “ _Where was you when family died and nobody believe me when I say was murdered?! I not need! You! Any! More_!”

She shrieked behind her muzzle, collapsing to her knees, sobbing at the rush of long buried emotions. She wrapped herself up in her wings, trying to hide away from the world, turning away from Hayden when he placed a light hand on her back. That was ok, though. She would tire herself out soon enough, then they could load her onto the train without disturbing her. 

Then, of course, they'd get her to the Capitol, Hayden would set her up in an apartment near enough to his that he could keep an eye on her, but still give her freedom. Get her the help she needed, marry her, live happily ever after. In that exact order, easy enough, right? 

Hayden knew, thanks to his own therapy sessions, that it Would Not Be As Easy As One Hoped, or WNBAEAOH, as his mother would cut it down to. 

Shockingly, Talia didn't crash after her crying session. The hybrid twisted away from Hayden, trying to get him to leave her alone. 

“Don't touch, stinky!” She snapped, and Hayden respectfully pulled his hand away, making her relax. 

He gave her a few minutes, putting the file back in order and texting out orders to Eret, while the sheriff got a party together to find Talia's “home”, wherever that was. After that brief period, he gently helped her to her feet, removing his hands from her the second she shook her shoulders angrily. 

The walk back to the train was uneventful, but Hayden took it slowly, letting the omega say goodbye, if she was even fully able to recognize that she was leaving. If she would even miss the town, which she might not. 

At the station, Eret was doing what Eret did best- organizing people. Once a sailor, always a sailor, and Eret ran the loading of the train like any ship's mate would. 

“Found her ‘place', Hayden,” he said cheerily, which Hayden knew from experience meant he was engaged. He tossed his monarch a garbage bag, which Hayden fumbled for a brief moment before settling it in his grip, looking at his friend curiously.

“She was living in the basement of a burned out house in the middle of the woods. There's some children's clothes, a picture book, and a stuffed animal in that bag. That was all she had.”

Ah, that would do it. Someone had told Eret a condensed version of her life story, and one orphan to another, he was feeling angry for, and protective of, the omega. 

Hayden let Talia's restraints slip from his hand as he opened the bag, knowing she couldn't fly anywhere without her tail fins being able to open. 

The children's clothes were old and raggedy, but they'd obviously been Talia's, at some point, from the carefully hemmed slits in the back. While most of them were too faded to see clearly, one of them was clear as day, and obviously meant for a human, not a hybrid. 

“Who's was this?” He asked, as Talia gave a keen and tried to grab it from him. He gave it up, rather than let it get torn by trying to take it from her. 

“Not Stinky's!” Talia hissed, balling it up and hiding it as well as she could while restrained. “Not yours, you leave alone!” 

She began to wave her tail about, trying to hit something or some-ONE with it, her wings flaring as a plasma blast began to form in her throat. The muzzle would stop one or two strikes, but if she was angry enough to fire off more than that, they might have an issue. 

Eret, however, was ready, and crouched to her level, looking her in the eyes. Hayden backed away, trusting his old friend and the way the other alpha had with abuse victims and children. 

“Was that your brother's?” Eret asked her gently, and Talia nodded, even as she looked away. “It's good you have something left from him, isn't it?”

Talia nodded again, sniffling.

“I'm glad you're able to keep it. What if you'd been arrested and nobody went back for your stuff?” He asked, always gentle, even with his harsh logic. 

A small, hiccuping hiss, but a very tight nod. 

“There's your answer, then. Stick with us, ok? I know Hayden's a little funny smelling, but that's not entirely his fault, eh? He's like roadkill on a hot summer day. _Someone_ probably likes it, but it isn't a pretty smell.”

“Stinky” Talia grumbled, but Hayden could see her tail flicking in amusement. 

“Like a rotten egg!”

“Garbage truck!”

“Bad fish, maybe?”

“Poopy butthole!” Talia shrieked, laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world she'd ever heard. Hayden rolled his eyes as Eret laughed with her. He looked at the stuffed animal- it was… some kind of cat, a mountain lion maybe? They _were_ in the Normerekos region, and mountain lions were fairly common animals to make stuffies of. At any rate, it needed to be cleaned, and could probably stand to be restuffed. He'd have to see about getting that done one day, maybe as a little reward after the testing? He'd ask once she was a little calmer and more settled in. 

“That's right, _but_ , Hayden is a good guy, and he's been trying to find you for a year now. He wants to take care of you, and help you. Can't do that if you don't let us, though.”

“Don't need help.” Talia insisted stubbornly, and Eret nodded like that made sense. 

“So you're just breaking the law cause it's fun?” He questioned, raising a brow, and Talia hissed. 

“Why I listen to law when law not listen to me?” She asked bluntly, and Hayden had to admit, the omega was raising a fair point. Except he could see Eret's game, and he knew they'd reached a breaking point. Shackmatt, her king could not move. 

“That's a fair point, but I'll counter with this- come take the tests, and I'll help you figure out what happened to your families. Both of them.”

Talia stiffened.

“You believe me?,” she whispered with quiet uncertainty, and Hayden pretended to make busy so she wouldn't feel pressured. 

“I do. I think Hayden would too, once we told him, and more than that, he'd be angry. I know he doesn't look like much, but that skin and bones chopstick is pretty scary when you hurt someone who can't defend themselves. You saw how easy he took on that Titan, right? You're safe with us, and you're safest with him. I promise, ugly as he is, he's a sweetheart.”

Hayden let his focus return to Talia's belongings, searching for any clues they might hold. He whistled, and several of his drakkard dropped into place in a circular formation around him. To be drakkard was to be half guard, half priest, and it took years of training, beyond the physical requirements. 

If he had been going deeper into the Nexus, and with less to focus off, he would have waited until he could be with his full contingent and then some, but he had enough material to work with.

He closed his eyes and _focused_ on the clothes in the bag, and the stuffie in his hands, his sense of self slowly taking a back seat as he accessed the memories of the person who had purchased the items, whoever they had been.

A name… a face! Intruder! Someone in the kitchen, a crossbow, a sharp pain like a bee sting, _firehothothotpainagony_ darkness…

Around him, Hayden could vaguely sense a curious, protective presence, examining him. It's ‘growls’ reverberated in his soul, but as soon as it had come, the presence was gone, replaced by a soothing one that was more than human, hybrid, or Oldblood. It was an ancient thing of immense power that, on occasion, would turn its gaze upon Haddocks when they entered the Nexus.

_Interestcuriousnewcyclegood. Help Her._

And then Hayden gasped, gagging for air as he came back to himself, not so much forced from the Nexus as he was physically set outside of it with no warning of any kind. 

“Eret,” he croaked, one of his drakkard helping him sit up.

“She's right. You tell her she was right and we believe her!” He coughed, barely catching the nearly inaudible whine from Talia. “I want _everything_ from the investigation into that fire, do you hear me?”

He coughed again, his shoulders going limp. 

“Fuck, I think I'm gonna sleep for a few hours…” he mumbled, and his vision went black as he proceeded to do just that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Am I completely happy with this chapter? No. But I've never been Happy With My Works In This Creative Medium, So What The Fuck.

Hayden woke up to the sound of someone slowly struggling to read out loud, and he listened, his eyes closed. It was Talia, and though she seemed to be having a difficult time, she also seemed stubbornly determined to get it right. She would read a sentence, then argue with herself over the pronunciation of a word, or even multiple words. 

“Toofless watch teh frof hop… no no no, stupid, stupid. T-t-toothless watched _the frog_ hop! Know this, know this! Papa read all time, know this!” She snapped at herself, and Hayden felt his heart squeeze in sympathy for the hybrid. To have lost so much, and for so long, and at such a young age…

He recognized the book, though. It was about the “adventures” of a little Dawnbreaker named Toothless who got into trouble and learned a lesson. The series had been one of his favorites as a little kid, and it wasn't a surprise that Talia would have a book from the series. 

“ _The Frog! _hopped all bay long, an… and Toothless followeded it as it hopped through teh swamp! No, no, d-day! Day! … stupid Talia…” she grumbled.__

__Hayden repressed a smile. He'd had the same… issue…_ _

__Oh. Oh! Well, that might help solve her reading issue, if nothing else. If he had to guess, she had The Mixups, just like he did. That would be a pain to solve, but it _was_ solvable. _ _

__He moved, like he was shifting in his sleep, and Talia tensed up, wings curling around her body defensively. Between his lids, Hayden could see that they'd taken her restraints off, and, probably with Eret's permission, put her in his cabin with him. She was in his chair, next to the fireplace, and she had her stuffed cat under her armpit as she read._ _

__After a moment, Talia carried on, though she was a little quieter._ _

__“It hopped frew the swamp, and Toothless followed it until the sun wendown. It was vewwy… very! Scary, and Toothless felt all alone!”_ _

__There was a little hitch in her voice as she read that particular line, and she shivered. Poor thing… and again, Hayden felt his heart squeezing._ _

__“Is ok, Maddie…” Talia mumbled, nuzzling the top of her stuffed cat's head. “Not alone now… Eret an’ Stinky believe us! Know I'm not crazy now… they help us get the bad sleepy man, promise!” She told the stuffed animal, and Hayden had heard enough, shifting about and sitting up with a convincing yawn._ _

__“Which Toothless book is that?” He asked her, rubbing the ‘sleep’ from his eyes. “Toothless Gets Lost?”_ _

__“Yeh…” Talia mumbled, curling up on herself, and Hayden smiled._ _

__“That was my favorite, when I was a kid.”_ _

__“My favorite too…”_ _

__Hayden smiled at her as she began to relax._ _

__“Do you want me to read it to you?”_ _

__Talia eyed him carefully, then nodded, almost imperceptibly._ _

__“Ye…” she mumbled, and Hayden forced himself up on his prosthetic, hobbling over to his chair._ _

__“Alright, scooch up. Can't read if you're in my spot.” he told her, and she scrambled onto the back, perching like a terror. She passed him the book and he smiled, gently taking it and sitting._ _

__“From the beginning?”_ _

__“Yepleath.”_ _

__That took… a long moment to decipher, but then Hayden opened the book, and began to read._ _

__“One day, Toothless's carrier sent him out to explore the land around their nest and catch himself some fish. His sire was basking on the rocks and groomed Toothless before sending him out with the warning to stay away from the swamp in the east. ‘You are too little yet,’ he told Toothless. ‘You must grow larger first.’ And Toothless agreed, for though he was an alpha, like his sire, he was only a little larger than a terror.”_ _

__“Tiny,” Talia said from her perch, and Hayden flashed her a soft smile._ _

__“That's right. Toothless went out from the nest and ate a bird that flew too close, and he thought it was delicious. Then, Toothless flew down the mountain, for the humans at the bottom always had tasty snacks for a hungry dragon of any size. He spent half the day playing with the human children, chasing and being chased, until he heard his sire calling from the mountain. ‘Good!’ His sire said when he returned, nuzzling him. ‘You did not go in the swamp! Go back to your games, little one,’ he said, and Toothless went back to playing.”_ _

__Hayden had forgotten how good the illustrations in these books were. He looked the page over, then noticed that Talia and Toothless shared markings- thin stripes of white on the undersides of their forepaws. Super weird coincidence. There was a shuffling sound, and then he ended up with a lap full of hybrid. Talia rested her head on his chest, and her tail curled around his good leg. The prince laughed a bit, resettling himself, then began to read once more._ _

__“Toothless didn't go back to the village, though. He went to the field, where all kinds of tasty snacks hid in the grass, chasing mice and birds and playing with snakes until he was distracted by something. What do you think it was?” He asked Talia, and she growled playfully._ _

__“The fucking frof.” she giggled, before scowling at herself and raising a paw to knock herself on the noggin. Hayden blocked her paw, grabbing it and pulling it into her lap._ _

__“Do _not_ hit yourself, little one,” he said firmly. “I have no issue putting you back in the restraints if it means keeping you from hurting yourself.”_ _

__He placed his palm over her face, feeling her relax again at the touch._ _

__“There we go. Don't hurt yourself because you're confused or don't understand something. Just ask for help, ok? And if you don't want to ask me, ask Eret. He's here to help us both.” he said softly. “I had a hard time reading when I was a kid, and I had teachers. That you can still read at all is a credit to you, don't sell yourself short, Talia.”_ _

__“Kay…” she mumbled, and Hayden figured that was the best he was going to get, for the moment._ _

__He let her paw go, reopening the book._ _

__“Now, where were we? Ah, here we are! Toothless watched the frog hop. The frog hopped all day long, and Toothless followed it as it hopped. It hopped through the swamp, and Toothless followed it until the sun went down. It was very scary, and Toothless felt all alone! It was dark, and Toothless couldn't see in the dark very well yet.”_ _

__He felt Talia go stiff and he stuck his arm around her shoulders, hugging her softly._ _

__“Toothless began to cry, calling out for his carrier and caretakers and sire, but he was too far away for them to hear. He climbed a tree, trying to see his mountain, but there was no moon, and he couldn't see where it was. He couldn't even see the human village!”_ _

__There was a soft knock at the door, and Hayden looked up._ _

__“Entry!” He called, frowning when Eret came in, hauling a nadder hybrid behind him. The hybrid was… oh, that was the hybrid from the museum where Talia had been ‘working’!_ _

__"I found this little turd hiding out in the baggage cars." Eret groused._ _

__"So… arrest him?" Hayden questioned as the two hybrids chattered at each other in Pure Dragonese, too rapid fire for him to follow._ _

__"I… can't…" Eret mumbled, embarrassed. "He's… take a whiff, ok?"_ _

__Hayden paused, taking in a deep sniff of the air- specifically in the direction of the hybrid. Balsa wood, tar and saltwater… just like…_ _

__"You sly dog, you found your mate!" Hayden laughed, lifting Talia on one hip as he stood up to pull his friend and the nadder into a hug. Talia squirmed, briefly, before relaxing. After so long alone, to be in a pile of bodies like this was… perfect. The best feeling._ _

__"Yeah so you see my issue."_ _

__"Not an issue for me!" The nadder quipped. "Arrest me or marry me, either way, I'm out of that two bit, ass backwards town!"_ _

__"Yeah well that _is_ an issue for me! I'm the main bodyguard of The Imperium's Prince! What does it say that you snuck on here, hmm? What if you were a bomb? What if you were an assassin? I _should_ be arresting you for sneaking on, then myself, for not catching you immediately!" Eret snapped. _ _

__"Whoa, whoa, Eret, calm down!" Hayden said, setting Talia down and rotating his friend away from the nadder. "Chill, bro, this is a happy thing, not a 'go to jail' thing!"_ _

__He ignored the joke about enjoying handcuffs he heard the Nadder mutter, shaking his friend a little. "Just be happy! For once in your life, let a good thing happen to you, before you end up a bitter old man with horrible facial scars and one arm!"_ _

__"Ok, rude, Hiccup." Eret groused, but… his friend was right._ _

__"Look at us, beating the odds! Now, go call your mom, ok? She'll be as excited as I am!" Hayden promised._ _

__After Eret left, Hayden turned his attention back to Talia, only to find her asleep, her head nestled between his neck and shoulder, nose smooshed up to his skin. He resisted the urge to coo, instead gently laying her down on the bed. He tucked her in, brushing her bangs from her forehead._ _

__"The Gods are funny, aren't they?" He mused quietly, before limping from the room. His leg would be sore for a month, after going as deep into the Nexus as he had._ _

__\--------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__The paperwork for this trip was horrible. His wrist _hurt_ , and Hayden was starting to see why his dad just used a stamp for signing this garbage. _ _

__Talia was sitting in his office, watching him curiously as he worked._ _

__"What you figure? 30,567 things to sign, all in triplicate, and if I don't do it today, I'll be at it double tomorrow. How many times do I have to sign my name, Talia?" He asked. It was mostly rhetorical, which was why he was shocked when she responded._ _

__"91,710 or 183,402." She mumbled after scratching at the air for a moment, almost as if she was writing the numbers in front of her face. "Too much for Stinky." She informed him in a judicious manner._ _

__"I can't just fake it, you know. And when did you learn how to multiply?"_ _

__"Easy when small. Bigger is harder." She shrugged, feeling that was a completely logical answer. And, had the question been 'How do you know multiplication?', it might have even been the right answer, but it was decidedly not, in this case._ _

__Still, it was all Hayden would be getting, for the moment._ _

__"Ok, what's… 567,078 by 6?"_ _

__"3,402,468." Talia mumbled, tail flicking as she scribbled on the paper Hayden had given her after she'd seen one of the paintings on the train and called it 'pretty', leading Hayden to encourage her to make her own art. Her first few sketches had been… hideous, to put it gently, but now she was steadily improving._ _

__"Why gotta come with you?" She asked again, grumbling. "Is stupid idea."_ _

__Hayden signed, but swiveled to face her._ _

__"Ok, you were holding down a job, so I know you know that some things are legal, and some things aren't. You kept doing things that weren't legal, so you earned punishment. But, we have concerns about if you could even make the correlation between right and wrong, so we're taking you to be tested, and to help you if we can. That includes with finding the man who killed your family, and making sure he faces his own punishment. Does that make sense?"_ _

__"Yeah, but don't get why couldn't do tests at home."_ _

__"Well, that's simple. The experts are at the Capitol, and you… aren't. So we're bringing you to them. If they can help you, then we'll help you, then let you go home. If you can't, then we keep you safe until we're able to."_ _

__"Still miss home."_ _

__He held open his arms, and a few seconds later, there was 75 pounds of muscle curled up in his lap for a hug. He began to rock back and forth at a slow, steady pace, rubbing her back._ _

__"I know… but Ipromise, leaving will have been worth it." He assured her. It was all he could do for her, in the end._ _

__After a few minutes, he tapped her shoulder._ _

__"Talia? You want some lunch?"_ _

__"Got Peanubudder Honey?" She mumbled, and Hayden chuckled._ _

__"I think we can get all the PBnH sandwiches you want."_ _

__The order was easy, and the kitchen cars sent up a few platters of the requested sandwiches. Some had the crusts, some didn't, but Talia demolished the first platter in less than two minutes before moving onto the second. Hayden watched, afraid to try and slow her down, lest she remove his hand in her haste to eat. Halfway through the second platter she slowed down, but it still took her less than ten minutes to have eaten every single sandwich._ _

__"The fuck do you put all that?" Hayden asked as she burped, clambering up to the top of a bookshelf to curl up with a yawn._ _

__"Tummy. Where else fit?" She asked, looking down at him, before leaning down to lick her paws like a fancy cat. Her behavior was… feral, but the more time she was forced to be around people, the more she spoke and the more human she acted. It had only been a day, since her arrest, but she was progressing like lightning._ _

__There was a knock on the door, and Talia began to growl, only to fall silent when Hayden gave her a firm "Hush, Talia," keeping her head up, but obeying his command._ _

__"Enter!" He called, and one of the servants entered. He was a nervous little Terror Hybrid, but he'd worked as Eret's secretary for about two years, and was fairly good at the job._ _

__"It's, uh, it's the Empress, Your Grace. She wishes to speak to you. She's, um, not very happy, Your Grace." He stammered out, and Hayden realized, too late, that he'd turned his cellphone off._ _

__"Stiffnutt, it's been an honor being your prince," he said with a gulp. "And if there's enough left of me to cremate, I want my Ashes spread on Old Berk." He joked, taking the 'business' phone from the Terror._ _

__"Hey, mom, hi, boy have I got news for you!" He said, trying to deflect, but it didn't work._ _

__Talia watched Stinky pull the phone away from his ear with a wince, her eyes narrowing as the high pitched voice on the other end got louder, speaking in a language she didn't know, but would later learn to be Old Norse. After fifteen minutes, she gave a growl and jumped from the bookshelf, snatching the offending object from her captor's hand._ _

___"You leave Stinky 'lone, Stupid-head!"_ she snapped, before closing her fist with a loud and satisfying crunch, giving a proud wiggle to Stinky, who groaned, laughing even as he pinched the bridge of his nose, before climbing back onto the top of the shelf. There. Problem solved._ _


	4. Chapter 4

Though Talia had broken the phone, Hayden had been forced to talk to his parents eventually. He'd done it over Face2Face, allowing his parents to actually see Talia, though she'd had zero interest in the computer screen. 

Stoick had been… confused, but he had his good days, and his bad days, and his neutral days, so Hayden had expected that. He'd accepted that his father was slowly getting worse after the stroke, and would only continue to do so. It was a horrifying thought, but there was nothing that could be done. His father would always be his father, but in this, he'd had to choose for himself. 

Convincing his mother had been his main concern, but after explaining the circumstances, she'd agreed that an immediate marriage would be the best thing. 

Of course, Hayden had no intention of marrying Talia until she'd gotten a decent round of therapy, but his mother didn't need to know that. 

Talia had been happy to curl up atop the bookshelf and nap, again, which was her habit when Hayden had to work. She'd only talked to Eret or the head chef, beyond Hayden, and was still highly anti-social; though she had chattered back and forth with several of the Oldbloods, all of whom thought she was the bees knees. It was an odd thing, but not entirely uncommon. The Oldbloods always responded to Dawnbreakers positively, even hybrids. They still remembered the loyalty of their kind to the line of Tannulaus and his Light Fury mate. Some of them had even been alive for The Joining, though few of them had ever spoken of it with any urgency. 

"Come on, Talia." He said, leaning back to stretch and crack his spine. "Aw fuck… I feel old. Come on, you, let's go get some lunch."

"Feesh?" She asked, jumping down and landing on his outstretched arm, then jumping onto the ground, shaking like a dog and standing up beside him. 

"Yeah, girly, fish. You're still too skinny." He told her, ruffling her hair and giving his stomach a teasing pat. They were both mostly muscle, but she was undernourished after years of unsettled chaos. 

He'd rather she eat fattier foods, but it was better to actually nourish her, and build up her body fat the right way. That meant 3 full meals a day, easy exercise, and snacks wherever she wanted. Talia hadn't quite known how to handle the idea, at first, but she'd come around after two days and every bit of food she'd asked for.

"Ice cream too?"

"Only after the fish, and your apples, but yes, you can have ice cream."

The fish was salmon, with a thick lemon sauce and goat cheese, and a side of corn, and a lamb shank on the side. The head chef had quickly determined that Talia was the best judge of if something was good or bad, and had tested four new recipes on her in two days. Two had been success, two had been taste failures; but Talia wasn't the kind to reject free food, even if she'd tell you just how gross it was, afterwards.

The lamb was covered in a new sauce, something a bit like marinara, only spicier and smokier, the lamb itself smoked. It _smelled_ like something served at Odin's table in Valhalla, and it had been Talia's favorite part of the meal, leaving Hayden to request it be served as the main course that night. 

The head chef was an older human woman, who looked to be of African descent, and was from the state of Orleans. Her name was Correa, and she only spoke Orleanian and Dragonese, but that was still two languages she could speak to Hayden in. She'd been working as an unappreciated line cook at the shittiest restaurant in Nawlins when Hayden had met her, but she'd been able to turn his dining experience around, and he'd hired her on the spot to be his personal chef. He refused to go another day without her cooking, if it could be helped. That had been five years earlier, and now, beyond Eret, Correa was the only one Talia had really talked to. 

"Yougota morakin maek?" She asked, and Hayden smiled, shaking his head.

"Nomam, sept wannadat lamb fo supp." He told her, Talia nodding along rapidly. Orleanian was a fairly easy language to pick up, if you knew English, and though she couldn't speak it yet, Talia was beginning to pick up the basics. 

"Fosho, ahkin do!" Correa assured him, smiling at Talia. 

After the main course, Talia ate an apple, something Hayden insisted on her doing with every meal, as the fresh fruit would help her gain weight in a healthy manner. She didn't care for it; but, given her idea of compromise was 'I do what I want and you can't stop me', the fact that he'd convinced her to eat fruit was good enough for Hayden. 

Dessert was apple pie and, as promised, ice cream, which was quite pleasing to Talia, who had likely fallen in love with the cold treat. Hybrids, as a rule, were sugar addicts, and Talia was no exception. Limiting her intake was… difficult, especially when her eyes would widen and a low whine would build in her throat. 'Yeh can't deny a begging dragon', as his mother used to say, when feeding table scraps to their oldblood terrors.

(His father would reply 'Sure yeh can' while also feeding the terrors, which really left him with less than a leg to stand on or a wing to fly with)

Still, his medical staff were quite pleased with her limited progress, thus far, and Hiccup contented himself with that. 

When she'd finished, Hiccup let Talia climb onto his arm, grateful for the hollow bones of a hybrid. Even at a healthy weight she'd likely never top 45, 46 kilograms, and while that was plenty heavy for most people, the prince was… a little more capable of taking the weight. 

"Alright, you. Naptime."

That was something Hiccup, Talia, _and_ the doctors could agree on- napping as often as she could. It would help her gain wait, and it kept her distracted from the changes she was experiencing. The hope was that she'd be up to a healthy weight by the time they arrived to the Capitol, and they were on track to arrive there, if the pattern of the last four days repeated itself until then.

The first major issue came about, about a week in, when one of the maids tried to take Talia's old clothing for washing. Talia had responded with her teeth, and had the maid been a dragon, she would have whined and whimpered and submitted in apology, but she was human. An angry dragon bite to another dragon wouldn't do much damage, but to soft, human skin? It was devastating. There was nothing to be done, and the woman had lost her arm just below the elbow.

The second issue was how to impress upon Talia that such an incident wasn't to be repeated at any point. Despite being muzzled after the mauling, and despite translations provided by Lugnut, she still didn't see the issue with what she'd done. 

Which had led Hayden to one conclusion. It was going to be painful, but… he had to do it. 

It was for her own good.

He was going to do it himself, though he wasn't going to hand the job off. He was her Alpha- he owed her that much respect. 

Talia hissed as he clamped the restraints closed around her wrists once again, struggling in his arms, desperately clawing and biting at him, trying to get away. She was stronger than your average human- but so was her Alpha, and what would have taken two humans an hour only took him forty-five minutes. The prince steeled himself as the last lock clicked shut at the back of her head, muzzling her until they arrived at the Capitol. 

Behind her muzzle, Talia snarled, her lips peeling back nearly up to her cheeks, a terrifying reminder of how deadly her mouth could be. "Gasha tu!" She snapped, and Hayden felt his heart breaking, to hear her say she hated him. "Tu berrata tero iih!" 

The Prince reminded himself that while she certainly thought so, he hadn't _actually_ betrayed her. This was for her own good, her own safety. Hers, and the staff's.

"Tu berrata tero tukata, Talia," he scolded. It was true, she _had_ betrayed herself, the minute she decided to bite someone instead of using her words. She didn't know better, of course- couldn't know better, not really, not yet. It was Hayden's job to teach her that actions have consequences, though, and if he failed at that, what was the point of this whole thing? 

"This is to keep you safe. This is to keep other people safe. You'll only have to wear this for a few more days, alright?" He assured her, but she shrugged him off, turning away from his touch with an angry growl. 

The prince sighed, but left her to herself. She was entitled to her emotions, after all. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

In a small town just outside of Moscow, a man went about his shopping, humming to himself as he did, his white hair cropped short. He was a thin, gaunt, almost empty man, and the best way to describe him would be to say that the Bubonic Plague took on a human form. He was conventionally attractive, in a fashion, but he was predatory, and there was no hiding it. 

There was a dog at his heel, and I wish I could say this empty, monstrous man treated it poorly, for then it would be a simple matter to hate him as we should, but the dog was happy, healthy, and indeed, even loved. 

The man passed an electronics shop, only to pause. He didn't even bother to turn around, instead walking backwards to watch the press release. As he watched, his rage grew, and grew, and the dog turned tail and ran, yelping as the store exploded, starting a fire. The dog watched as his Master began to kill, snapping the neck of a woman who passed him, trying to escape the flames. 

Thorstoc had started the day with four hundred residents. 

It ended the day with one, and he sat in his favorite armchair, petting his dog and fuming. The girl was alive. She was _alive_ , and she was _royalty_ now, of all things! He had killed her whore mother! He had skinned her father and stuck his corpse on a post! He had gone in, killed her foster family and poisoned her with enough dragonroot and eel juice to ensure that she would never wake up again. 

"How, Dragur, how?" He mused, before abruptly standing, casually scooping a knife up off his kitchen counter, where a hybrid was tied up like a Turkey, the small child sobbing in terror. 

Closing his eyes and focusing, the man slit her throat, and found himself standing before his queen. 

_We must go, I will do it if I must, the night fury must die before the cycle can begin again,_ she said, her voice filling him with empty dread. She was a monster, but her goals aligned with his- revenge- and the power she granted him was alluring.

/ She's not even a true Night Fury, my Queen/ 

_She is of Slepnir's blood. She must die_

That was a simple truth, one that had pervaded the man's life for nearly a thousand years. His eyes had been closed for so long, to how the world truly worked, but he was ever a fast learner. He was an instrument of the Will Of The Gods, and he would enjoy committing the murders he must, to ensure the cycles went smoothly. 

/As my Queen Commands/ he smiled as he came back to himself, the child's body in front of him slowly jerking back to 'life' as his Queen entered it, the ropes burning away. 

"Iih serhan", she marveled, examining her new body's claws. 

"Sella iih, iih shor'ai. Iih Grimmel."

Grimmel smiled. His Queen wished to learn all he had to teach, and he would gladly tell her all he knew. 

And after the Night Fury was dead…

His eternal enemy could die as well.


End file.
